MMA news updates

Instead of spamming the boards everytime I see some cool news, I’ll post it here. I’ll also keep track of prospects I like, new signings to ufc/dwcs/Bellator/etc.

* Edited at 05.02.2022, 4:44 PM ET *

Dober, Moicano, Dawson, Gamrot II, those would be my picks, in that order. Dober has good but not great takedown defense and he's pretty worthless off of his back...Hes an easy out for Arman stylistically, if it stays standing its very dangerous for Arman but it really shouldn't. Hopefully Arman finds a finish, that performance vs Damir (who I think is top 10 caliber) didn't so him a lot of favors. Also Arman has to stay busy, he's still 3-4 wins away from a title shot if he's lucky and 5-6 very possibly...consider Islam probably fights once more this year vs Beneil then early 2024 vs Fiziev/Poirier. Arman has to keep trekking forward and stay active. 

Dawson would be the best fight since he’s the only wrestler of the three (as good as the fight was I don’t really wanna see a rematch right away), but he would still get wrecked by arman 

* Edited at 03.08.2023, 6:28 PM ET *

I'd just rather Dawson and Arman not derail each other but I agree that it would be, presumably the most competitive fight. 

I don’t want to watch Drew get thrown around by Arman. Save Drew for a more exciting fight

you gotta be trolling, right?

arman's performance against damir didn't do him a lot of favors? LOL 

ismagulov has some of the best takedown defense and anti-wrestling not just at 155 but throughout the entire organization and what did arman do? took him down 7 times and controlled him for 75% of the fight and that was on top of doing incredibly well on the feet (please do NOT use the 7/21 takedown attempts as an argument, that's just the nature of grinding clinch work and chain wrestling)

for people in the know, arman's win over ismagulov did him more favors than any other fight he's ever had and it was by far his most impressive performance in the ufc so far. his cardio was elite, his takedowns were elite, his time in thailand is starting to bring his striking together etc etc 

the reason he's main event-ing a card now is exactly because the ismagulov win did him a lot of favors and he's very clearly not 4 or 5 or 6 wins away from a title shot LOL he wins this fight that he has just announced and then he fights either poirier or fiziev/gaethje winner and he's next in line for the title-shot after beneil

* Edited at 03.08.2023, 7:06 PM ET *

Didn't a lot for him in the sense that Damir was ranked below him and the UFC has a long history of forcing the long road on guys who win via a smothering wrestling approach. I thought the win was incredible and have been aware of Damir for years, but the reality is this...Islam will most likely fight once more this year vs Beneil, then he will fight early 2024, take Ramadan off and fight again late Summer or early fall. Realistically his next two fights are Beneil and then either Fiziev, Poirier or the winner of Chandler/McGregor, god forbid they do a  Volk vs Islam rematch. Arman should want to stay busy and keep his name in the headlines so he can't be denied. If he fights 2 times and wins both between now and July of 2024 there's a good chance he gets skipped over. 

* Edited at 03.08.2023, 8:27 PM ET *

in that sense yeah I generally agree but IMO arman with 2 wins will have reached the point of literally not having anyone else to fight. arman is also a pretty rich dude so he doesn't need to keep fighting lesser ranked opponents, if he gets to that point he can afford to wait

also even with a win against gaethje I don't think fiziev should be given the title shot, a run consisting of a suspect decision against green, a war against riddell and a pretty mediocre performance up until the knockout against RDA shouldn't grant you a title-shot in arguably the deepest division in the ufc especially considering bobby green is retiring soon, riddell is falling out of the rankings and borderline getting cut soon and RDA is nearing his retirement and only looking to have fun fights at 170

ideally and what I think is going to happen with the 155 title shot picture is I think Islam fights Beneil or Charles in October in Abu Dhabi with co-main event Fiziev (assuming he beats Gaethje) vs Arman, then fights winner of Fiziev vs Arman before 2024 Ramadan and if he wins he then does the Volk rematch in Abu Dhabi in October 2024. 145 has a couple of contenders bottling up the division so Volk will be defending the belt at 145 until then and i'm guessing Poirier is going to move up to 170 because no one wants to see Poirier vs Islam

* Edited at 03.08.2023, 9:01 PM ET *

"Afford to wait" waiting doesn't get you title shots, he really can't afford to wait. He's not some established draw who if he sits out will eventually get a call for exactly what he wants. He cannot afford to sit out during the early years of his prime. 

I disagree with you on Fiziev, if he beats Gaethje that's 7 in a row and back to back top 10 wins over established names...most likely knockouts that will trend and get a lot of attention and keep him in the match makers and fans minds. Hardcores care about Arman, but casuals aren't thinking "hey man did you see that kid who went tit for tat vs Islam during the first 10 minutes on short notice and won grueling grappling heavy matches vs Damir and OAM? wow he's so talented! He backpacked some Kazakh ranked 13th who's name I can't pronounce". Fiziev is the kind of guy who gets title shots and if he beats Gaethje he will deserve it and be ahead of Arman in line....regardless as to if we or analysts think Arman is the better fighter. I even agree that a win over Damir or his performances vs Gamrot and Islam mean a lot more than Fiziev finishing RDA in the 5th but thats not how it works. Win streaks, top 10 wins, big names beaten, highlight reel finishes...it's how you get big fights and title shots quickly. 

I don't think this co main between Fiziev and Arman happens, I wouldn't hate being wrong and we will see but I think Arman will fight another guy outside the top 10 in April and Fiziev is going to cement himself as a title contender if he knocks top 5 Gaethje out. I think you're skipping a step or two with Arman, I think he'd 3 wins away if everything goes ideal and if Islam vs Beneil happens in the fall, Islam vs Fiziev or Poirier or the winner of Chandler vs McGregor maybe happens before Ramandan. The earliest I see Arman getting a shot is late summer or the fall of 2024 and if he fights 1 time a year sitting out for perfect matchups it very well might not even happen then. But hey, who knows. Good chance if Fiziev beats Gaethje he will fight Chandler or Poirier (pending Poirier wins) to be next in line, not that he will fight Arman if they do want him to get another fight. 

waiting DOES get you title shots. masvidal did it, leon edwards did it, colby covington did it, stipe miocic is doing it right now, sean o'malley is talking about doing it right now and those are just recent examples off the top of my head

how can you disagree with me on Fiziev? i'm not saying he's not an elite fighter but the facts are literally there, he's got a win over #13 Moicano 2.5 years ago when Moicano wasn't even ranked at lightweight, he's got a win over #18 Brad Riddell who's on a 3 fight losing streak all while Moicano and Turner had way more impressive wins against him and he's got a win over #9 ranked RDA who for anyone that's watching even the slightest of MMA knows he shouldn't be ranked in the top 15. you're talking about top 10 wins getting you title shots but Fiziev has none, you're talking about big names beaten but Fiziev has none, you're talking about highlight reel finishes but Fiziev only has one. so how is he deserving of a title shot?

meanwhile Arman has an absolute domination of #12 Ismagulov, a highlight reel finish of highly touted prospect Joel Alvarez, robbery loss to #7 Gamrot and an incredibly good showing on short notice against pound for pound #3 and division champion Islam. based on your criteria, Arman is more deserving of the title shot than Fiziev right now

it's pretty obvious to see you're biased especially since you're downgrading arman's performance against damir as "backpacking" and think it's more possible that conor/chandler get the fiziev #1 contender's match over arman considering they're both literal bums with no credible wins in the division fighting at 170 instead of 155

* Edited at 03.09.2023, 12:32 PM ET *

Lol you don't seem to follow what I said, you just want to argue. It's okay big dog, you the man. 

nothing you said makes sense, back to sucking central asia fighters' ****s for you now son

* Edited at 03.09.2023, 1:17 PM ET *

Not an MMA prospect he retired in 2012 but this is probably my favorite Dagestan fighter he had proper sick submissions.. I think he could have won in Bellator or UFC but I dunno he retired


 https://www.tapology.com/fightcenter/fighters/12561-magomed-shikshabekov-the-eagle 

Maybe it doesn't matter to some people but I just saw Rafael Lovato returned to mma. That's pretty cool, he probably won't do much but he makes things interesting with his Jiu Jitsu

Rei Tsuruya added to the Fight Pass Roster, he will likely participate in the Road to UFC tournament.

That’s huge, he’s a really good flyweight prospect. Him and that Korean guy they signed are probably gonna be in the finals 

Jung Hyun Lee, yeah Rei and him have to be the front runners to win the tournament. Great signings by the UFC. What is the other weight they will do a tournament at for this Road tournament besides Flyweight?

All the same weight classes as last year and women’s 115 & 125

I heard Shin Haraguchi wants in on the tournament be it 145 or 155 but plans to be at 145lbs going forward in his pro career. He's another one of Japans best prospects.Some great signings coming from these tournaments it feels like. 

I figured he was a guy they would sign 

Also there’s a very real possibility we get rin nakai in this tourney🤣